Da Vinci Exhibit: Natural History Musuem

We had a Da Vinci Exhibit pass through our Museum of Natural History. I was finally able to stop in and wanted to share some of the experience with you. The exhibit was separated into two parts, art, and inventions.

Unsurprisingly a great deal of the art portion was dedicated to the Mona Lisa. Of course, the actual painting was not there (it is no longer allowed to travel), but there was a good overview of what we have learned about the painting in recent years. Most of the Mona Lisa information was dedicated to how Pascal Cotte’s photographing of the painting helped to shape what was wrong about how we saw the painting and what was right. First, it was four different paintings really. The draft, the portrait of a woman in pearls, the portrait of the woman we believed to be the only model, then the final painting. There was also an in-depth look at the colors and how they have changed over the years.

There was also some information on his other works, but not as detailed.

Next was the invention part of the exhibit. There was a lot dedicated to his ideas as well as the things he actually invented. Da Vinci was a man very much ahead of his time. I think it’s well known that he had fascinating ideas, some that we were only much later brought to life. Some were never able to see the light of day. Others helped to give his time technology that we take for granted today (such as the ball bearings).

Da Vinci was a man who studied everything. He was fascinated by nature, fascinated by art, by technology, engineering, life itself. It is why he had such a diverse portfolio, even if much of it was not known in his lifetime. I might revisit the subject of Da Vinci and his life at a later date. For now, I want to say that the experience was amazing and I am so grateful I got to see it.

I do want to leave with this quote they showed of his and how much it broke my heart that he thought of himself this way.

“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have”